Happily Ever After in the Warehouse
by KelbyWoo14
Summary: A/U: Pete and Myka should be together shouldn't they? Find out what Myka and Pete would be like together. Relationship, marriage, kids? Also Artie never turned evil and Myka never got sick. Lena is still in this story. Couldn't part with Lena. Also told from Myka's perspective.
1. Chapter 1

Nothing ever ends when there is magic at work. Endless wonder can never truly be destroyed. Part of me could give up my job knowing that, but I convince myself everyday that it's not enough for it to exist it has to be channeled and that's our job. We state that it's to bag and tag, but really we use them for good and take them out of the hands, which have been tainted. Just because we have never come across an artifact that has been used only for good doesn't mean they don't exist. We deal with the problems.

I walked down one of the aisles loaded down with objects taking an inventory check. Every month one of us has to do a walk through check to re-goo the more dangerous artifacts. "Myka, get in the office!" I dropped the purple clipboard and bolted. Anything was better than Check Duty as Pete liked to call it.

Claudia was at her computer like usual triangulating the exact spot we were probably about to be sent to by the look of the constantly shifting locations on the screen. Artie started to talk, "This is one of those days where there are two artifacts to find. You two will have the more illusive item while me and Claudia will track down the other. Don't get exited, they are not paired." He paused. "Pete and Myka, you are going the cozy town of Bethel Vermont while Claudia and I are going to London."

Pete groaned. "That is not fair!"

Artie smiled, "Would you like to deal with a computer artifact Pete?"

Pete grabbed the car keys, "Myka let's go to Vermont."

I grabbed the file from Claudia's desk and took off. While we sat on the plane I read through the file.

Pete watched TV.

"It says here that the artifact is probably located in an old inn called the Sugar Lodge nicknamed the Darling." I turned to Pete, he had his headphones in and I could here the loud clashing sounds faintly. I pulled them off his head. "Look up the Sugar Lodge."

He was annoyed but he pulled his phone from his pocket and looked it up. His eyes lit up. "It's a newly wed inn for honeymooners. Nicknamed the Darling."

He repeated what I had said.

I sighed heavily and gave him a dirty look.

"What did I say?" He shrugged it off and smiled, "Guess we should go undercover as husband and wife, right there sweetie pie?"

A flight attendant came by with the water. "Would you like something to drink?"

Pete smiled at the woman, "Two glasses of champagne, we just got married!"

I glared at Pete and sighed heavily.

"Congratulations!"

We could only get a flight into Boston so we rented a car to make the drive up to Bethel.

I turned to Pete. "Really? You had to do that? Every time we turn around you find an excuse to tell someone Pete. Can't you behave for ten seconds?"

"It's not like I told Artie, besides _pretending_ to be married this time actually makes sense." He huffed immaturely, "I admit the singles convention was a bad idea."

I smiled without him noticing and gave him the million-dollar glare.

The inn was sweet and beautiful with flowers in hanging baskets. It didn't look like the normal place for an artifact, but then it never did. Pete got our bags out of the trunk and walked in.

I followed just slightly behind to have a longer time at scanning the area. I was the observer and Pete was the one who got the vibes. I trusted my eyes while he trusted his instincts.

A teenager with long dark hair was asleep at the front desk. Pete rang the bell startling her awake. I gave him another dirty look. I wondered why he had to be such a child.

"What?" He asked again.

The girl glanced up, "Oh, Welcome…" She yawned. "…to the Sugar lodge, or the Darling as most like to call it. How can I help you?"

I stepped in before Pete made his newly wed speech, but I still played along. "My husband and I would like to rent a room for the week."

"We'll need cash, we don't take credit cards." She chewed heartily on a piece of purple gum.

"No problem there little missie." Pete said imitating a cowboy. He pulled a wad of cash from his pocket from the office budget we get for each case. Most of the time we don't use it.

She rolled her eyes and had Pete pay for the week.

She called out a name. "David!"

A guy in his early twenties came out and picked up our bags.

She handed one key to David and said, "Room 22."

David nodded and continued up the stairs without talking to us.

"Oh!" The girl exclaimed as we were leaving. "My name's Etvi incase either of you need anything else while you're enjoying your stay at Sugar Lodge." She flashed us a large fake smile.

David took our stuff up to our room and I tipped him since I knew Pete wouldn't.

Pete immediately jumped on the bed. "I'm pooped." He smiled and pretended to fall asleep.

I unzipped both of our bags and started to put things in the drawers.

Pete pulled me onto the bed from behind.

"Cut that out.", I wasn't angry and he knew that. I wasn't in the mood to humor his playful behavior at the moment though.

I got back up and finished putting our stuff away.

When I turned around Pete was sitting on the edge of the bed looking over at me with a serious look.

This wasn't good. I knew I had to talk. "What's wrong Pete?"

He raised his eyebrows. "You."

"You know I'm not mad for you fooling around Pete."

He shook his head, "It's not that. Myks, you don't seem like you like being married to me."

"I don't want to lose my job Pete. It isn't about that. I love you. I wouldn't want things to be any other way, but when we eventually tell them what we did they're going to fire both of us, or one of us and I know it's going to be me."

"There's no way, Myks you're more useful than I am, you can go places by yourself and snag artifacts. I have never been able to do that."

"I'm just as useful with a Farnsworth behind a desk as a consultant than actually in the field."

Pete thought about what to say next. I could see it in his eyes. He was weighing his words very carefully.

"Okay, you win, I'm just so much cooler than you." He started to dance towards the door and pretended to run into it. While on the ground he put his hand up in the air. "Myka, I need you."

The jokes were perfect in this moment. We had both said our piece, but hadn't fought.

I went and helped him up and we officially started our investigation, unfortunately our investigation had to look like we were on our honeymoon. Awkward.


	2. Chapter 2

As we headed downstairs to start our investigation I whispered, "Plan B."

Pete put his arm over my shoulders and strutted down the hall towards the stairs. I stopped and just looked at him.

"What? Are we in high school?" I walked ahead of him this time. I wasn't actually annoyed with him though.

"Well, excuse me Myka. Don't you have something to say about everything. I'm sorry that I can't read your mind."

I pretended to storm out the back door and Pete followed me.

No one was outside, but there were three couples inside. After we got far enough away from the inn that no one could hear us, I turned around and made big gestures with my hands as if we were fighting and Pete followed suit, but we just had a normal conversation.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see some of the couples crowded around the windows.

"I can't believe this actually works." I shouted at Pete.

"I know! They fall right into our trap."

"People are bad, why do they like sticking their noses in other people's business."

We went back and forth like this for a good three minutes, but allowed the fight to gradually look more like a conversation and then we kissed each other, one of those kisses that makes onlookers feel uncomfortable, where they feel like they're intruding on a private moment.

We walked back holding hands, Pete actually did pull me close and we ignored the couples inside and headed upstairs.

The men smiled at Pete, the women looked concerned and that was it.

When we got back in the room Pete asked, "How does that work again?"

"Tonight we do our own thing and they will come to us. We're popular now, it really is like high school and they'll tell us all we need to know about the inn and all the crazy things that go on here and then we get the artifact and go back home."

Pete looked sad, "Home? To our separate rooms and our pretending again?"

This wasn't working.

Later that night we were sitting in separate corners of the B&B. I was quietly reading a book in the sitting area and Pete was watching TV with the guys.

One of the women awkwardly approached me. "Are you and your husband alright?"

I looked up distracted. I smiled, "Yeah, we're fine. Just a little disagreement, but we always make things right."

She smiled, "You can't fool me, honey. That's why most of us are here anyway." She looked around as if to check if anyone was listening. She lowered the volume of her voice. "This place, isn't so much for honeymooners, it's for those in need of a honeymoon if you know what I'm saying?" She smiled, "It's said to be a cure. My friends were having troubles with their marriage and after a week here they were renewing their vows and having another kid. Don't worry you and your hubby will be right as rain, just give it a few days."

I just starred at her still trying to figure out the "You can't fool me" comment. I was usually really observant, but for some reason nothing stood out. I just couldn't focus.

I glanced over at Pete who was now talking and laughing with the guys. Hopefully he was getting more than I was.

Three other women joined in on our conversation. "I hope nothing is too bad with you and…?

"Pete." I shook my head in response. "We're fine."

The group exchanged concerned glances.

I looked at my book longingly and then shut it with no hope of getting back to the story.

When the game was over the guys immediately found their wives and the couples started to excuse themselves.

The women had asked me questions about our jobs, how long we'd been married, everything.

I told them we'd been married a month, that Pete was a cop and I was a teacher, and that we didn't plan on having kids for awhile.

Pete sat down next to me. "The guys say that most of their marriages were shot when they got here and now it's great. You know, like really great. You think there's some kind of marriage fixer artifact here?"

"That's a new one. It could just make people feel euphoric, but one of the women said that her friends left and are still okay so it must have some long lasting effects after they leave."

"Great!" Pete said.

"What?"

Pete looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I said ate."

I glared at him.

The next morning we all awkwardly sat down to breakfast at the same time, at the same table. We lived at a B&B back home, you would think this wouldn't be so weird.

One of the women Sarah told us that they had been staying only a couple days but they acted like they owned the place, the people who did own the place were no where to be seen though.

Olivia told me that her and her husband just found out that they were going to have another baby.

Pete and I, with everyone talking about the news, had that talk. "Myks, you want kids right? I see myself as a kids guy. You know I want kids ever since I wished you pregnant remember?"

"How could I forget? Truth, yeah, I do want kids, but I don't think I want more than two and I know that you want six, you told me when you were six." I was referencing another artifact.

"I don't want six. I thought it would be cool to have that many kids because that was how high I could count. I want four."

I told him when the time came we'd decide, but that it couldn't be anytime soon because of how dangerous our jobs were.

"You said we might be fired if we told them. If we were would you want kids sooner?"

"Pete, you would never say a thing like that." This was really odd. Pete knew how much I loved my job, this whole thing was just weird.

After awhile we didn't really get anywhere with the investigation, we asked tons of questions so we just decided to treat the extra time like it really was a honeymoon.

At dinner on one of the nights Sarah and Olivia were talking about baby names and a new couple had shown up fighting up a storm.

I pulled the girl aside while the guys were watching a baseball game and told her how great this place was and how her and her husbands troubles would just disappear.

Some how after a couple days I was pretty okay with the B&B and Pete and I were great. I still didn't like the other couples, the women were always being so snoopy about Pete and I, our jobs and just about anything we said. Then all of a sudden Lena was walking through the front door so freaked it wasn't funny.

"Why haven't you guys called us? We have been so worried about you two? It's been a month since you left! What do you have to say?"

Pete and I just looked at each other trying to remember how that could be possible and then I didn't care. I went over to Pete and we both walked away from Lena.

I remember spending what felt like a really really wonderful week with Pete at that B&B, but according to Claudia and Lena the owners were using a Euphoria artifact that enhanced love for one another, it intensified it and made you never want to leave, because the further away from it the more love _sick_ you started to feel.

While Pete and I were in lala land Claudia found the central point in the Inn that most of the guests seemed to spend the most time around, the dinning table.

Apparently, some girl a hundred years ago converted her grandparents home into a B&B and they had made their dinning room table from a tree that had their initials carved into it in the center of a heart creating the artifact of love. They loved one another so much it made everyone else love each other too.

On the plane ride back to North Dakota, Pete felt really sad aka love sick, but I got real sick. I spent most of the flight throwing up.

Claudia got Lena to come and help me. "Lena, alter her aura and make her sleep."

Lena went to change my aura. "I can't!"

Claudia didn't get it. "Just use your witchy powers and make her better. No big whoop." A conservative old couple looked at us funny. Saying strange things on planes made people feel really uncomfortable.

"I can't explain. It's changed, it's not all Warehouse Myka anymore."

Now she was scaring me.

"Is there something wrong with me?" I asked.

Lena addressed us both. "I have to be familiar with your aura and something about Myka's new experience changed her so I have to relearn it before I can help. Sorry Myka."

"It's okay."

"This bites." Claudia said.

I went back to my seat when I felt a little better. I leaned my head against Pete's shoulder and tried to sleep.

I had a really crazy dream that I was pregnant and then a flash and I saw a small kid in Pete's arms. I opened my eyes; it was just a dream, no worries.

I reasoned that we had just talked about having kids, that this dream wasn't too weird, but I stayed awake the rest of the flight just waiting to get back. Even though it was a dream I needed to be sure.


	3. Chapter 3

When we got back to the B&B I knew I needed to get to the store, but I needed to have a good excuse. The problem was Lena did all of our grocery shopping.

It was also a small town and everyone would know. We didn't really spend a great deal of time with people in Univille but there were a few and they did like to gossip about us and all the crazy stuff we did.

Artie would get the local gossip every now and then from the guys at the local diner or from Vanessa, his girlfriend and our doctor.

I knew I should just talk to Vanessa, but even though she had to respect doctor confidentiality she didn't with Artie, because it would mean my safety and she'd have to tell him and then every one would know.

There was a major ping practically the second we got back and Artie was sending Pete and I into deep cover to find an artifact that was in a high school prep academy in New York.

This one, he thought, could take weeks, maybe months so we were creating full backgrounds and becoming teachers at the school.

I know what you're thinking, Pete as a teacher, but it's okay, he'd be teaching Art and PE and he'd be a baseball coach.

I would have English with all grades, no problem.

With my scare, I knew I shouldn't go into the field and put myself in danger, but my reasoning was like this: 1: if I stayed at the Warehouse I was around more artifacts then if I went into the field, 2: if I stayed I would have to explain why I was turning down a job and 3: I'd be stuck in Univille with no hope of figuring out for sure if I even had anything to worry about.

The first day of teaching I thought would be easy, but I was really wrong. Being distracted really didn't help much either.

My best classes were the younger kids who had no idea what they were doing because we were on the same page, but the AP kids could see right through me.

I thought I could find comfort with Pete after being completely dumb in front of a bunch of 17 year old genius's.

Pete had the perfect day telling stories in his art class, making kids run, and coaching baseball.

I went to our apartment early after school the next day and took a test. The wait was excruciating. I couldn't bear to check, when I finally did, I was so relieved and disappointed when the test was negative.

I could focus all my attention on work.

My focus went into overdrive amped up by our new Warehouse kicker.

Every agent after spending about three years in the warehouse starts to develop abilities that become apart of the genetic makeup. It's not a super hero thing, but just a slight genetic alteration.

Pete didn't have anything yet so I didn't tell him about mine. I was observant so it kicked my observation skills up a few notches by making my senses heightened to the point where I could hear people about a block away when they were whispering and see practically in infrared. I also had telekinesis, but it was difficult to control so I didn't bother with it.

Besides using these abilities comes with a price just like when we use artifacts that we aren't supposed to.

In my freshman honors class I talked about Romeo and Juliet and Count of Monte Cristo and only two of the kids even bothered to listen.

One of the boys raised his hand in the back of the class. "Romeo is an idiot."

The class snickered.

"What is so funny?"

Everyone was giggling or smiling mischievously except for one boy in the front. His arm tightened around himself, he lowered himself further in his seat, and starred at the wall to his left avoiding eye contact.

The girl next to him raised her hand. "His name is Romeo."

I smiled in a good way. The bell rang.

"Marcus and Romeo, please come here."

They settled nervously in front of my desk.

"Marcus, did you mean to call out Romeo or were you commenting on the book?"

"The book, of course."

I knew he'd respond like this.

"Still, I'd like you to apologize to Romeo and if I catch you implying something like that again you will have detention. Is that clear?"

He nodded. "Sorry Romeo."

I dismissed Marcus.

"Romeo, if there is any hazing over your name I'd like you to let me know alright?"

He nodded, but still didn't speak.

"Is Romeo and Juliet the only Shakespeare you've read?"

"I read a lot because of my name."

I smiled, "Hamlet?" I asked.

He nodded, "Don't say I need to stand up for myself."

"That wasn't what I was going to say, my name's Ophelia, the girl who lost her mind." I sighed, "I'd rather be named Romeo."

He laughed in a good way, when you feel like you're not alone.

"You can go, and I'd like to hear your thoughts in class, especially if you've read as much Shakespeare as you say you have."

He left and I sat down at my desk and sighed. "Teenagers."

"Well, how has your day been Mrs. Lattimer?"

I smiled, "Not so bad, Mr. Lattimer."

He came in and hugged me. "Thought we'd go get lunch and talk."

"Do you have anything?"

"Maybe." He said.

"Artie said that there was an artifact making kids act weird right?"

"He said that there was a subservient artifact, making one of the kids a lord over the others Pete." I sighed.

"Oh, then I got nothing." Pete admitted, but he still seemed like he was thinking about something.

"At least tell me what you were going to say."

He sighed, "It doesn't really fit, but there's this kid who can do some crazy stuff even though he's not that athletic, he's on the baseball team. He's not lording over anyone, but he seems enhanced. I was thinking maybe you could show up to the practice and check it out for me, but if it doesn't fit…"

"Do you have a feeling about this kid?"

Pete nodded.

"Then it's worth looking into."

I sat on the bleachers watching the scrimmage, the kid was smaller than all the others and he drove the ball further, threw harder, and ran faster than the others. The running factor wasn't all that crazy, but then I saw him pitch and the movement on the ball was insane.

Pete benched him and I went over to talk to him.

When I approached, it was none other than Romeo.

"Mrs. Lattimer, what are you doing here?"

I pointed to Pete. "I'm Coach's wife."

He looked back and forth between the two of us. It looked like he thought it was totally weird.

"Need anything?"

He was much more confident out of the classroom which was weird because he seemed more like the smart type rather than the guy that was sitting in front of me right now.

He was definitely not the "Lord", but there was something interesting going on.

"Do you have some kind of baseball gene in your family because that was some pretty impressive pitching?"

"I wouldn't know if I did, I'm a foster kid, but no worries though. Thanks for the compliment."

I nodded, this would explain the outdoor tough guy exterior, it was a copping mechanism.

Although it made sense, I had the impression he was lying.

I smiled and went and sat back down in the bleachers.

Pete came over when the game got into a rhythm where he wasn't needed as much.

"Anything?"

"There's something interesting there." I said.

His heart rate was crazy fast and he didn't like my questions. I put my hand to my own heart, the rate was fast, and it had been ever since I got the extra warehouse abilities.

Some random kid couldn't have abilities like that without an artifact though.

"Myka, what are you thinking?"

I had zoned off a little bit.

"The kid has to have an artifact right?"

"He could, but what are the chances that there are two artifacts here right now?"


	4. Chapter 4

I continued to watch the practices, but I didn't notice anything important to the case. There was nothing warehouse-ish in my other classes either.

Marcus was a suspect but there was another boy, Daniel Mitchells that got a lot of attention, he was a junior stuck in mainly freshman classes so maybe the Lord thing just seemed likely because of the way the younger kids treated him.

Despite my skills at observation I wasn't getting anywhere. I needed to get a better idea of the teenage hierarchy, the stuff they didn't tell teachers.

A week went by and I only got more frustrated.

I was still dizzy and sick and I felt that having to teach was getting in the way of my observation skills.

At the end of class Romeo was still sitting in his seat starring at me. He was shaking his head, looking at me with a look of disappointment.

He tilted his head to the side just slightly the way Pete did when he was trying to figure something out, but this boy did it with a quizzical expression as if he were studying me.

"I would have thought you would have figured it out by now."

He started to leave.

I was so stunned it took me a few moments to react.

"Come here!"

To my surprise he came.

"What did you mean by that?"

"I can't tell you."

I could tell based on his expression that he really couldn't or at least had promised not to.

I decided to try a different tactic. "How about I ask you a few questions and you tell me the answers if you can?"

He nodded smiling so slightly making his brown eyes glint like gold for a split second like Pete when I let him eat junk food.

"What is your name?"

He rolled his eyes. "Romeo."

"Your full name." I demanded.

He hesitated. "Romeo Arthur…"

This was the name on the roll call, but he was hesitating. "Is there more?"

"I can't say." He looked sad.

"Have you noticed any students change drastically in the last couple weeks?"

"Yeah, it's high school, but I wouldn't ask me."

"Why not?"

"I got here only a few days before you."

I smiled; he knew something that he wasn't saying.

For some reason I couldn't help but think that he knew what was going on or that he had seen something.

I rephrased the question. "Is there a student that you've noticed acting out of the ordinary, extraordinary?"

I was expecting a look of confusion, but instead the slightest of smiles glinted his lips. "Penny Bell." He turned to leave. "You didn't here it from me, if anyone asks."

He acted like the conversation we just had was completely normal.

When I went to the practice latter that day Pete came and sat next to me in the stands while the guys played a scrimmage.

"What do you know about Romeo?"

"Who?" He asked.

I pointed to his pitcher. "That kid, he's in my class."

"He's a freshman, made varsity, he's actually 13, skipped a grade. Never heard anyone call him Romeo, just Rom. Other than that not much. Personally if I were his dad I'd call him Rally. The initials on his glove are RAL."

I noticed something, Pete scratched at his ear.

It was a habit that told me he had no idea what I wanted to hear and he was trying to figure out what I was thinking.

I spotted Romeo do the same thing as he looked over at us.

I stood up.

"Why Rally?"

"I don't know."

"His initials are R and A."

"Have you called him that yet?"

"No!"

"What does this have to do with the case?"

"I don't think it has anything to do with the case."

Pete starred at me. "Are you going to tell me where you are Myks?"

"Not yet."

The next day when he came into class I waited. I didn't pay him any attention. As he got up to leave the room I called out to him. "Rally!"

He immediately turned around.

It was extremely unconventional but I grabbed his backpack and didn't let him leave.

"Sit. You are going to tell me if I'm right?"

He sat down.

"Do you believe in magic?"

"What kid doesn't?"

"Don't act like Pete. Answer the question."

He starred me down thinking he had the upper hand.

I felt nauseous for a moment. I placed a hand on my stomach for just a second.

"When's your birthday?" I was secretly hoping he wouldn't say…

"August."

I withheld a gasp.

"What year?"

"What kind of question is that?"

I decided to go all in on this game. "Rally Lattimer, so help me, if you don't give me a straight answer…"

"Mom, would you just give it a rest!"

For one moment I smiled triumphant and then I realized what he just called me.

I sat down next to him in one of the chairs.

He smiled at me. "Aunt Helena sent me here, to tell you not to take the artifact from Penny." He waited to see if I was listening.

I blinked once for yes.

I did this with Pete so I thought he would get it.

He did.

"She's meant to do more with it and it will find it's way to the Warehouse just fine."

I nodded. "How did you get here?"

"I'm not here, not really."

I looked over at him and went to place my hand on his shoulder. It rested there.

"You seem real to me."

As I said it my hand started to fall through and he started to disappear.

"I'm a warehouse kid. I'm basically an artifact, like Dad."

I could only see an outline now.

"Take care of me." He laughed. "I'll be seeing you soon."

Pete and I finished out the week and headed back to Univille.

Before we left I took two more tests. Both were positive.

We really would be seeing Rally soon.


	5. Chapter 5

I spent tons of time avoiding the most dangerous parts of the warehouse, Lena studied me, and I was desperate to tell Pete. I couldn't avoid any of these things except for telling Pete. I figured with his instincts he would just know, he knew something was up with Rally before, but he didn't know what.

Surprisingly it was Claudia who found out first, although I suspect that Lena already knows and thinks it's my place to tell her.

Claudia came up to me. "Myks, Pete told me to check up on one of his vibes. What's up with you?"

"Pete has a vibe about me?"

"With good reason." She was grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Come again."

Claudia climbed up and sat down on one of the crates while I cataloged the artifacts.

"You were hacking your guts out until like ten in the morning yesterday. Either you have the flu or I'm going to be an auntie!"

I sighed, but I didn't deny anything. There was no use trying with Claudia. Like Jinks she could tell when people were lying.

Lena came up the aisle and gave the smiling Claudia a once over.

She returned her gaze to me. "Artie wants you two to go to this university in California to track down an artifact that's making people forget who they are."

When we got there we flashed our badges and went to talk to the dean. "Hi, I'm Agent Bearing and this is Agent Donavon. We were called about your recent issues."

"Oh, yes, come in." He gestured for us to sit down. "At first it was one girl. She cracked under the pressure. She was seeing the school psychologist and suddenly she thought she was in high school, her mind regressed, and then she disappeared from school. We don't really understand it."

"Are there any other students that were affected?"

"One of the classes she was taking had two boys in it that suddenly disappeared as well, but we thought they were unconnected at first."

Claudia scoffed at him.

He turned his gaze on her and gave her a disapproving look.

I shook my head at her to tell her that wasn't okay.

"Can we get a list of the students in the class and the professor?"

He hesitated. "Of course." He picked up his phone. "My secretary will help you."

"Thank you sir."

When we walked out into the office Claudia immediately went and hovered over the secretary until she would hand over the list. I noticed a little boy about 6 sitting on one of the chairs. I bent down and tied my shoe. I smiled up at him. "How are you?"

"Good." He said this, but he looked confused.

"Where are your parents?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Somebody at the school brought me in here. I don't know what's going on."

"Did you talk to that woman over there?" I pointed at the secretary.

He shook his head. "The person who brought me in was in a hurry and just told me to hang out here and they would take care of me."

The kid was in an oversized black t-shirt that said Frat Man Forever in bold letters. There were a few Greek letters on the shirt too. I brought him up to the counter as the woman handed over the paperwork to Claudia. "Excuse me, this guy has been sitting out here for a while. Apparently he's lost."

The lady peered down at him and rolled her eyes. "Another one." She picked up the phone.

"What do you mean?"

"I swear, people keep losing their kids here, that or they're abandoning them. There have been three kids in the last two weeks!"

"Was it a girl and two boys?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Come to think of it, it was."

I left with Claudia feeling awful that I was leaving that kid with her. "Did you see his shirt?"

"What about it?"

"It was a frat t-shirt. What if they're getting younger not forgetting?"

"What could cause that?"

"I don't know."

We went to the class the dean had told us about. There was a class in session, but Claudia didn't care. It was an art class, pottery to be precise.

We introduced ourselves. "What can you tell us about the students that have gone missing?"

"They were my best students. They managed to make the thinnest teacups out of anyone in all my years as a professor.

"Tea cups?"

Claudia was so proud she knew what he meant. "The more delicate they are the harder it is to see them through the kiln."

The professor nodded. "Yes, which is why I was so surprised when they stopped showing up. I was the one to report them missing after the first student left; Ms. Deveraugh."

"Were they working on something together?"

"No, but their grades destroyed the curve for the other students in the class, some of them will have to take the class again. I know I could probably do something about it, but my grading standards are predetermined before each semester so I can't."

I glanced around the room focusing in on the students; all of them were busy. One young man stood out amongst them. He was covered from head to toe in gray clay dust.

"May we talk to a few of your students?"

He nodded. "Of course."

I led Claudia over to the kid I noticed.

Claudia spoke first. "What are you working on?"

She was dressed in relatively formal work attire, but the purple streaks made her look like a student, he talked. "It's like the tea cups but less complicated." He held up a thin rod of clay and gestured to the table. They got thinner and thinner. The smallest were a pale blue and shattered though.

"I wanted to create a set of pick up sticks."

Claudia went to pick up one of the pieces.

He held his hand above them, "Sorry, no one but me touches them."

I stepped in. "Why that game?"

He sized me up and then went silent.

I walked away leaving Claudia alone with him. They talked for a moment or two and then she came over to me.

"He's the next best in the class, he's either the cause or the next victim."

"How do you know?"

"You know how I have Fergusson powers now, connected to the warehouse." She said it in a spooky voice and laughed.

"I'll trust you. I think we should take a better look around in here and then track down the kids that were found on campus."

We went into the back. Tons of amazing and extremely horrible clay pieces in different stages littered metal shelves in an outdoor area.

Claudia lit up at the sight.

"How do you know so much about this?"

"They had classes at the institution." She looked down.

I wished I hadn't asked. I noticed something. "Claudia! What happened over there?"

Claudia took a moment to figure out what I was looking at. It was a large metal box with wide doors. What looked like large chunks of clay and what appeared to be blue glass was attached to every surface of the metal and large dents looked to be hammered into it.

"That's the kiln."

I extended my hand to touch the pieces to see what it was.

Claudia stopped me.

"That stuff is shattered glaze. Someone put a wet piece in the kiln with all the others and it exploded. It's as sharp as razor blades."

I took out a small spray bottle of the purple goo and reached in trying to be careful to avoid the shattered pieces. I sprayed a small section and sparks flew.

We'd found the artifact.

I sprayed all of it. As I pulled out my arm I felt a long scratch slide up my skin. There was a long line of blood extending from my elbow to my wrist.

Claudia grabbed a towel off one of the shelves that wasn't covered in clay and wiped it off. We didn't find a gash. In place of a cut was a small jagged blue mark that seemed to be interwoven with my skin. "I think I figured out what happened."

"Myka! What do I do?"

I took a deep breath. "We stay a team, we go find the kids and we figure out how to save them so that we can save me."

Claudia seemed a little more relaxed hearing my level tone. Inside I was screaming hoping that the baby was okay, that what this was doing to me wouldn't hurt him.


	6. Chapter 6

We got permission from foster care to see the children and we got them all together and tried to figure out how to remove the shards. I tried injecting the sight with purple goo, but the problem is that the hard stone quality was blocking the affects making it impossible to get to whatever quality was making them young.

I noticed that the shard in my arm was relatively small compared to theirs. I touched the mark with my fingers nervously testing how hard the material was. It inched up the girl's arm and up my fingers towards the mark on my arm. My mark grew in size creating a star out of blue lines.

Claudia grabbed me as I went to the next kid. "Don't, you're just going to make yourself worse!"

As she said it the girl started to age and get taller until she was back to her normal self. I took the hands of both of the boys until more and more lines covered my arm. I passed out.

Claudia yelled at the girl. "Do you remember?"

She nodded. "How long were you like that? About 9, I mean. Weeks. I don't think I was getting younger. We only got so young and then we stopped."

"How many years?"

"I was 17, so 8, and then the guys were 17, so 7 and 10 years. Altogether it was like 25 years."

"Myka, would be 7."

Claudia pulled out one of the pick up stick pieces that were shattered. She must of swiped it from the clay class. She cut her arm before the girl could stop her. Claudia reached out her hand for mine and the blue marks trailed through my fingertips and laced themselves in a blue spiral around her arm.

I opened my eyes. The kids that I'd saved were sitting around me, waiting for me to get up. I sat up. In the girls arms was something wrapped in Claudia's t-shirt.

The girl moved forward and placed a baby girl in my arms. She had tears running down her face. "I couldn't stop her."

They got up and left. I sat there starring at her; she had saved me. She gave up everything for me. Now, I had her in my arms and I had no idea what to do.

On the plane one of the flight attendants congratulated me. She was no bigger than a new born. When I showed up in Univille, I dreaded the moment when Artie knew, when they all knew that I had failed to protect her. The kid in my arms squirmed.

I walked in and Pete looked terrified when he saw the baby. Lena spoke first. "Myka, what's going on?"

I couldn't respond, I was frozen, completely mute.

Artie asked, "Where's Claudia?"

Instinctively I looked down at the kid. She started to cry at the name Claudia almost like it was the cause.

The silence in the room was louder than anything I had ever experienced.

Artie came forward and held out his arms for her.

I tried to hand her over, but she screamed bloody murder and she grabbed so tight to my shirt it was impossible. I pulled her back against me and she snuggled down peacefully.

Lena looked scared. "Artie, can I speak to you alone?" They left the room and went into the dinning room.

I sat down on the couch.

"Is it seriously her?"

I nodded. Her little hand was tightened around my finger. Lena came back in with Artie.

"What is it?"

I bounced her ever so slightly to keep her calm.

"Lena says that your auras are linked."

"What does that mean?"

Lena looked at Artie. "Somehow you're her mother." He was annoyed. "We can't let the regents know about this. You haven't seen Mrs. Fergusson in all that time. We'll convince them that she's 100% yours."

"Why?"

"If they found out they would take her from you, from us. They would want to raise her to be a part of the Warehouse, to take Mrs. Fergusson's place."

I hadn't thought about that. I stopped bouncing her. She started to squirm causing me to break my shocked reaction. "I still don't understand how I'm her mother."

Lena sat down next to me and smiled at the baby. "Claudia had so many powers, one of them was being able to connect to any artifact that's within her domain. There's an artifact here that was used in adoption research, it essentially makes two people related who weren't. I think Claudia used this to make you her mother. The only way to be sure is to have Vanessa take some blood and check."

"Wait! You think she'd be mine by a blood test?"

Lena nodded, then she looked worried. "Pete?"

He was still starring down at Claudia in shock.

"Pete?"

"What?"

"I want Vanessa to take a sample of your blood too."

"Is my aura connected?"

"No, but fathers are different."

While I had my blood drawn Pete took Claudia, and while he had his drawn Artie held her. I took Claudia back and Vanessa finished with her. "I'll have these results back as soon as I can."

That night Lena went to the store and bought baby clothes and bottles and diapers etc. This didn't feel real. Artie assured me that there was no way of reversing what happened to her. We had gotten to the kids just in time. The blue clay was out of her system and still she was an infant. Claudia was just starting to be an adult only to wind up back as a kid once again.

Vanessa came in person and had both Pete and me together to tell us. We were sitting on the edge of my bed.

"I know this is unconventional, but as your doctor…"

"Have out with it." Pete's patience was spent.

"She's yours, both of yours. There's no doubt in my mind."

Pete's mouth dropped open and then he smiled.

"What does this mean? What happened to her?"

"This is what's weird…"

Pete laughed.

"Her DNA was altered to match yours, she won't look much like Claudia when she grows up. There is something else though."

Pete looked nervous. "What else could there be?"

"Myka, it's about your blood test. Do you want to talk alone?"

Pete looked really nervous. "No"

Vanessa ignored him.

I shook my head. "It's okay."

"Your pregnant."

I flinched and looked to Pete for his reaction. It was the same as when he heard Claudia was ours. He was dumb with shock and then pure joy.

"You knew."

Vanessa was really confused. She had no idea that we were involved let alone married.

"I didn't know how to say it."

"When…"

"August."

We looked over at Vanessa after we were finished having our moment.

She composed herself and then spoke. "This complicates things. We were hoping to fool the regents and say that she was yours, but the timeline…"

I sighed. "It will be close, but we can still pull it off. I'm 2 months in. How old is she?"

"I would say almost two months, but not very close."

"What if she were a pre-me? Say 3 months old?"

Vanessa sighed. "Maybe." She didn't seem to buy it.

"What if I say that I'm not as far along? Then Rally will born early and Claudia will be 2 months old."

Vanessa caught the name and Pete was stunned. "Rally?"

Pete looked at me questioningly. "Really…the boy from…? We're having a boy?"

I nodded.

Vanessa sighed. "You can't possibly know that so soon."

From our embrace we looked at her like she was crazy.

"Never mind."

We looked over at Vanessa who was still sitting there waiting.

"It's not my business to tell him about you and Pete…, but I do have to tell him about Claudia and the baby. You'll be made to do lots of cataloging and paperwork Myka."

"Understood."

"You have to tell them though."

I nodded. "Thank You."

She left to go deliver the news to Artie.


	7. Chapter 7

We started to head downstairs at about the time. We thought we'd given Vanessa enough time to tell Artie the news. About half way down the stairs we heard him yell. "What?!"

He came out of the living room as if he was racing to find us. He looked upset, angry even.

"Myka, get down here." He commanded.

I looked over at Pete slightly scared.

I walked into the living room and Pete followed me in.

"Vanessa just told me something and I'm hoping she's mistaken."

I waited. He didn't speak.

"Claudia is ours."

Lena looked sad and then smiled just slightly.

At that moment Jinks came into the B&B with his luggage. He'd been out on an assignment; he had no clue what was going on.

I was worried he'd kill me when he found out who the sleeping infant was upstairs.

"Yes, we all knew that she would be."

Jinks walked in expecting a warm welcome, but then stood in the doorway to watch the chaos ensue.

"That isn't to what I'm referring. She told me I had to bench you Myka."

Lena and Jinks both raised their eyebrows high at this. They thought that I was being punished.

I nodded. "Yes, that's correct." I could see the pupils in their eyes widen further at my affirmation.

"Maternity leave." He said sternly. He struggled to spit out the words.

Lena's fear and confusion turned to pure joy and Jinks looked more confused than anybody. It was a look that said _How long have I been gone?_

"Who might I ask is the father?"

I didn't have to speak. Pete was grinning as proud as a peacock.

Artie took a seat on the couch exasperated. "What am I going to do? I'll have to ask the regents for a new agent."

Pete got pissed. I felt like I was drowning at the idea of Artie firing me. "You can't fire Myka because she's having my kid!"

Artie looked up at Pete very calm and confused. Seeing the anger on Pete's face brought a playful smiled to Artie's lips. "I mean, that I have to get a new partner for Myka. You can't very well work together anymore."

Artie was mad that I wasn't going to be in the field. He didn't care that we were together. "You mean, you don't care?"

"That your together?" He looked amused. "I'm thrilled. I win the pool."

"What?" I was upset. "You had a pool."

Jinks smiled, "Actually Artie, you get half of it."

"You were in on it too?" Pete asked Jinks.

He shook his head. "They made this bet way before I got here. Lena and H.G. bet that you would have been together a lot sooner than now. Claudia and Artie were spot on." He looked around. "Where is Claudia?"

Everyone's cheerful demeanor fell fast and Jinks looked terrified.

"Where's Claudia?" He asked.

"She's upstairs."

This response made him more scared. "I can't tell if you're lying!"

"That's because she's not really Claudia anymore."

He raced upstairs and I followed him. No one else did. This was up to me and they all knew that.

He threw open her bedroom door. "Where is she?"

I was standing in front of my bedroom waiting for him to come up to me. He pushed me aside and went in. The little girl was in a dark purple onesie, asleep on her back, her fists in little white gloves to keep her from scratching herself with her long thin nails. Her hair was still red and I wondered if it would get dark like mine.

I thought I'd have to explain, but somehow Jinks knew. He had a connection to Claudia, even to this little girl. He placed his hand over her heart. He just needed to feel her heart beat. "How?"

"She saved me. She knew I was pregnant and she saved me."

"You were supposed to protect her."

"I know and I'm sorry." The words were true but hollow; they were all I could think to say.

He got up to leave.

"There's something else you need to know. It can't be reversed. Claudia reached out to an artifact and changed her DNA to match Pete and me. Technically she's our daughter. Artie doesn't want the regents to know. He thinks they'll take her away from us if they do."

He nods and goes into his room. There was nothing I could say to make him feel any better. He had just lost his best friend.

**A/N: Sorry if this is too sad. It will get happier. **


	8. Chapter 8

We let Artie know that we had gotten married and I changed my name officially to Lattimer.

I didn't want the two of us to leave Jinks to do the work at the Warehouse, but it was important to me that we let our families know about the babies.

Artie only gave us permission to leave because we would need help corroborating our stories to the regents.

I wasn't looking forward to telling our family that we had a baby and didn't bother to tell them and that we were having another one. We started with Pete's mom and his sister. His mom was a regent so this would be interesting. She would probably be the one to tell the others if she thought something was wrong.

When we knocked on her door her eyes immediately fell on the bundle in my arms. "Come in."

She had planned on having lunch with us. Jane gathered us around the kitchen table. Pete's sister had been asked to be there too. She signed something to Pete.

"Explain yourselves." His mom translated.

His sister's expression was amused and playful like Pete.

"Artie had us undercover a lot this past year and most of the time we would pretend to be a married couple. We realized we actually liked each other. We kept our relationship a secret until we had to tell everyone about this little one." I gestured to the little girl in my arms.

Pete had been signing what I had been saying even though his sister could read lips.

I was definitely going to have to learn to sign and so were our kids.

Pete started to speak. "I don't want you guys to be mad, but we understand if you are."

His sister said something and Pete smiled and looked at me.

"What?"

"She wants to know when we are getting married."

His mom sat there, also wondering the same thing.

"We already are." Pete held up his ring finger.

His mom spoke. "Not that I'm not happy to be a grandmother, but I will let you know I'm disappointed not to have been to the wedding since I have a feeling that this is going to last."

That was a big deal. Not only did she seem to say that she approved of me, but also that she thought we would last. She had vibes like Pete so that was a big deal.

"There's something else isn't there?" She asked. "I can tell."

"That's so unnerving."

Pete smiled. "There is. We're having another baby."

They seemed happy about it all. His sister seemed upset that Pete hadn't included her since she was already a mom. She had two girls and she felt she could have helped me. I only smiled at that.

His mother approached me. I felt nervous for a moment. "You never said what her name was."

I laughed out loud. "Sorry, we named her after H.G. Helena, but Pete calls her Hilly."

"Why?"

"Don't be upset, but we gave her the middle name Imogen from Shakespeare's play. It's a tradition of my father's. Mine is Ophelia. Anyway her initials are H.I.L, Hilly."

"I'll have to get used to that one." She gave us both hugs and handed over Hilly to us.

"That went well." Pete said smiling.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's just hope my father doesn't kill you."

"What?"

"We told your mom the real date that we got married so we have tell my father and it's considerably close to when we would have found out about Hilly. Pete, I mean really, we can't pick and choose what we tell…" I saw his expression." You wanted to tell them both different stories!"

He smiled. "I would rather not be offered up as a sacrifice or boiled by your father like in Hamlet."

"They were casting a spell and it's not likely Shakespeare even wrote that passage so Dad will have some different Shakespeare inspired way to kill you."

"Not funny Myks."

"I thought it was pretty funny."

I knocked on the door three times evenly spaced apart.

Someone knocked on the door twice from the inside.

I responded with three knocks, and then silence and I did three more knocks. I smiled at Pete as my mother answered the door.

"What was that?" He was freaked out by our literary traditions and weird behavior. He held Hilly closer to him as if he could protect her from the weirdness.

My smiled reached my eyes. "Sweeny Todd."

His eyes grew so big. It looked like he wanted to run away.

My mother's eyes fell on Hilly just as Jane's had only this time she barred the way rather than asking us to come in.

"Myka. If you say what I think you're going to say your father will kill you. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that my parents should meet their grandchild."

Her mouth fell open and she dragged us in. Pete wouldn't give up Hilly when my mother asked.

"Not until I see Mr. Bering."

My mother laughed. "Hold onto her if you think she'll protect you." She walked away to get her husband.

"Pete!"

"What?"

"You should have let her hold her."

"She's my biological guarantee of not getting shot point blank."

"Now you think he owns a gun?"

He came out. I waited for him to take in the scene. "Why are you here?" It was a cold question. I knew Dad loved me, but he wasn't very good at showing it.

"I got some time off. We wanted to tell you some news."

"Well?"

"We're married and this is our daughter Hilly and…"

He interrupted. "When did you get married?"

Pete gulped loudly.

"Eight months ago." I said guiltily.

"And…Hilly?" He said the name as if it were dry and stale.

"She's two months old."

He nodded and started to head away from us and into the kitchen. Even I was afraid, but I was more angry than afraid.

Pete and I had gotten married before we had kids, our timeline just didn't make any sense. I hadn't done anything wrong by my father's definition, but I had to let him think we had without adding another lie to the many already between us.

He came back in. His expression was still very guarded, but he had a small envelope in his hand. "I did this for your sister, but names have already been cast I see." He nodded towards Hilly.

This stunned me and I tore at the fold. In a Roman scrawl, in all caps, there were names written. It was titled the children of Ophelia?

I smiled when I saw the list of girl's names in the right hand column. I showed it to Pete and he smiled.

Pete got up and placed Hilly in my dad's arms. "I'd like you to meet Helena Imogen Lattimer."

He smiled. One of the few times I had seen my dad look pleased. "Imogen, really Opelia?"

I nodded. I took a deep breath, not wanting to ruin this happy moment. "There's more. We're having another kid."

My mom smiled laughing to herself. "Are you serious?"

I sighed and nodded. She came and sat down next to me. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"No morning sickness?"

My dad was still smiling.

"I can handle it."

My mom looked over to Hilly. "I can see that."

I felt bad. I never would have done this to them in a million years. It was weird how I could be angry at Claudia, but love Hilly more than anything and have no anger towards her whatsoever. I didn't know whether they were one in the same or if Claudia was gone.

I tried, we tried, not to think the name Claudia when we looked at her, but that red hair. She was gorgeous. Pete wanted to throw in Claudia as a middle name, but no one thought that was a good idea.

Vanessa and Artie thought that the child would have all the abilities and more that Claudia had, the same instincts, but different skills and memories. She would be similar in destiny to Claudia, but she was an entirely new person, new identity and appearance. Everyone missed her, but tried to come to terms with it by arguing that Claudia would have the childhood she always deserved.

Jinks kept away from Hilly and us for a long time, but then one morning he came into breakfast and sat down next to the highchair.

After we were done eating and Artie pulled out the files to send him and Pete away Jinks spoke. "I know I haven't been cool about this…"

I spoke, "Jinks you don't have to…"

"Yes, I do. Just listen." We fell silent. "I lost Claudia." He looked over at Hilly. "But she'd kill me if she saw me acting like this and she'd want me to be there, for Hilly." It was the first time he'd said the name. "She told me Myka, that you were like the mom that she never had and now she will."

As if on cue Hilly started to cry. I got up to get her, but Jinks reached out. She took hold of his pointer finger and stopped crying. "That's right, I'm Uncle Jinks."


End file.
